Chinese vice premier's visit to promote ties with S Korea

Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang's official visit to South Korea will further promote the strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries, Chinese Deputy Commerce Minister Chen Jian said Wednesday. Li is to have broad contacts and in-depth communication with the South Korean people from political and economic circles on deepening the bilateral friendship, especially on economic and trade cooperation, during the two-day visit starting Wednesday, Chen told the Chinese press. Chen, who is accompanying Li, described the visit as one of China's major diplomatic actions to strengthen cooperation with neighboring countries. The visit will open a new page in the history of China-South Korea economic and trade cooperation, and contribute to economic stability in both countries and their common development, as well as world economic recovery and prosperity, Chen said. The deputy minister said booming trade and investment and broadening cooperation between the two countries have become an important basis for deepening the bilateral strategic cooperative partnership. In a short summary of the bilateral economic and trade cooperation in recent years, Chen said trade between China and South Korea has experienced tremendous growth, reaching 207.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2010, a year-on-year jump of 32.6 percent. At the same time, the two countries saw rapid growth in mutual investment, more project contracts and labor cooperation, better interactions in multilateral and regional mechanisms, and more people-to-people exchanges, Chen said. China is gratified to see the progress in economic and trade cooperation with South Korea since the establishment of diplomatic ties about 20 years ago, and is confident about its future, Chen added. Noting that China and South Korea are among countries which have gained the quickest recovery and the fastest growth in the latest global financial crisis, Chen said the two countries have great potential and bright prospects on economic and trade cooperation. In order to further promote bilateral economic and trade cooperation, Chen called on the two countries to accelerate the establishment of a bilateral free trade zone, improve investment environment and promote mutual investment, strengthen cooperation on environment-friendly industries, broaden the width of cooperation, and further enhance international coordination. Chen said the visit is set to contribute to further development of economic and trade cooperation between China and South Korea.